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Their ofrenda was chosen as one of 20 among a competition
of national and international artists
for the nation’s largest Day of the
Dead exhibit. The exhibit runs from September 25 –
December 13, 1852
W 19th St Chicago, IL 60608,
(312) 738-1503.
Inspired by the traditional veneration for both sacred entities,
this ofrenda expresses the intense and vibrant features
of the two devotions, energizing and connecting them in a
chromatic contrast of orange and royal blue, representing the
earth and sky, the eternal intertwining of past and present,
tradition and innovation, and hope and renewal.
This artwork honors the departed ones in their immigrant
experiences from México into the
United States and their connections with the ancestral cultures
of Old and Ancient México.
For centuries the Santo Niño de
Atocha has represented home away from home for people
of Mexican roots on both sides
of the U.S.-Mexican border. For many Mexican and
Mexican-American families, the Holy Child continues to be an
essential and intimate presence on home altars, yard shrines,
roadside chapels, prayer cards, and devotional ornaments hanging
from rear-view mirrors.
The Santo Niño de Atocha is the patron saint of
immigrants, travelers, mining workers, soldiers, prisoners, and
people disconnected from home. As a liminal saint, He helps
people find their way home safely.
In a similar venue Quetzalcoatl-
Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, the Dawn Rising Star or
Venus, guides people and the sun through the Mictlán (the
Underworld) and the night into
the renewal of a new morning and a new life.
Editor’s Note: Since the 1990s, Juan Javier Pescador and
Gabrielle Pescador have presented Day of the Dead offerings
throughout the Great Lakes region.
The most recent are “Detroit-Tenochtitlan” (2008) and “Frida in
Mictlan/Mictlan in Frida” (2007), both displayed at the
Michigan State University Museum,
and online at www.pescadorarte.com
Juan Javier Pescador is a photographer and
multimedia artist, who has
exhibited his works throughout the United States and Mexico.
Gabrielle Pescador is a painter as well as a multimedia and
performance artist, who has exhibited and performed throughout
the United States, Canada, and Singapore. |
